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Hi,I'm a 21 years old Belgian lost my passion to endurance sports.My speciality is climbing (to bad I have to ride at least 100km form my home, before I find anything that even comes close to a climb).(I think) I'm also fairly good at TT's, due to the extremely flat region I live in).During a race I always want action! I like to attack, although chances of success are small. A team like Vacance-soleil - DCM would suit me perfectly :p Also a role as helper, giving everything for a teammate is something I don't mind doing, for some reason I can't stay in another rider's wheel for more than 2 minutes , I always end up in (the) front of the pack...My first passion was and still is cycling, but due to not enough free time I started running at a club in september 2008.The day before I did my first training I did a race (4km - 2,5 mile in 15'11"),± half a year (april 2009), a lot of training, and a few cross-country races later I did another race, 16km - 10 mile in 1h00'44" (exactly the same pace, only 4 times the distance!).last year (2010) I passed the "magical" 1h limit with 59'47"this year (2011) I did the same 10 mile race in 56'18"In those 3 years I also had some nice PB's, most of them under the limit that separates the good from the better ones) on the track (800m: 1'59" - 1500m: 3'58" - 3000m: 8'54"). I had a race bike already and did an occasional ride with some friends during rest/recovery periods, during these rides I felt like I had more of a 'talent' for cycling than one for running, but (as mentioned above) I kept running due to shortage of free time.In my last winter "as a runner" I trained 7 to 10 times a week, with an average of 120km/week.During my 3 years of competitive running I always struggled with the same injury (shinsplints), the season always started of good, with PB's on all distances, but after the first part (let's says spring classics) I had to reduce training intensity due to my ever returning injury thus not improving my results. When this happened again last year, I decided to stop running and start cycling, I started working (as a web-/iPhone developer) in november 2010, but under a contract of 30hrs a week (instead of 38), so I had more time now.I first started doing a lot of base km's 300km/week, at first I was really tired after a +100km ride (running training sessions where usually no longer than 1h30) but after a month or so these rides became a "piece of cake" so I increased mileage to +500km a week.after a little less than 2 months, I reduced mileage and increased my speed. After doing this for about a month I wanted to test myself. I went to local a group of bikers who I heard from, who gather 2 times a week and do a training at race pace together, their avg. speed was most of the time around 40km/h and the distance was 60km. The first time I joined them I gave myself the goal: "try to follow" which went a lot easier than I expected. After that day I joined them weekly, increasing the time I was pulling the pack, every week again, one time only 6 people showed up (usually about 20 - 30) we did the 60km ride at an avg speed of 40,1km/h I was dead afterwards!Then this august the time was come to do my first race. A 60km race in my home town. I joined a local team, and gave myself the goal "finish the race", which, again, went easier than expected (60km 42km/h avg.) In my second race I found myself in a 3 person break-away after 3 of the 13 laps, I didn't think we would make it to the end but we (me and my 2 companions) gave everything we had, after 2 more laps (lap 5) 5 other guys joined us and another lap later a team-mate of mine also made the jump (a 30sec gap). In the last lap I attacked, my action lasted till 200m before the finish line, I finished 9th, last of the break-away, disapointed at first, but hey! who gets in the (or a for that matter) break-away in his second race! Until last week I did a lot of other races always going for a higher level, and I was always able to stay in the front of the pack and be of some meaning in the race (best race was 84km with an avg speed of 44,5km/h)! next year I'm going to a u23 team increasing the level with a big step, I am also looking for a personal coach (anyone knows someone good near Antwerp, Belgium??).

old me wrote:

now the bikes!my current bike is a CANYON AL speedmax frameset with a shimano ultegra sl groupset and a basic mavic wheelset.the frame originaly is a TT frame, but it works as a normal race bike to. It's an aluminum frame with carbon forks.I bought the frame from the conyon outlet for €400 and the groupset for €350 at an online store, mavic wheels for €160 and the handlebars from an older bike, and put everything together myself, so a pretty good deal for a starters bike! I have this bike for about 1 year and 4 months now. Not really a "weight weener" (does that term exist?) but it does the job!

Now the new bike:I only have one part yet, the frameset :pit's a ridley helium frameset, which used to be a spare frameset from the katusha pro cycling team, but the never needed it!price I payed: €1100 (instead of €2800 in the shop)here's a pic:sorry for the quality, can't find anything other than my phone to take a pic.I'm thinking of putting an SRAM FORCE groupset on it, upgrading to RED over time.I have a shimano ultegra 6700 wheelset which I will upgrade after this winter...when it's finished I think (hope) it will weigh in at -7kg.

so thats me and my bike(s) I will show my new bike when it's finished! (with some nice pics of course!).

NEW BIKE!!

I went by a shop (with a nice discount) last week for a new focus. the discount was on the 2012 focus izalco 3.0 (matte black izalco with force). they didn't have this bike in stock but they gave me the 2013 model with the same discount Now I have 0 money, hopefully insurances will hurry a bit (who am I kidding).I replaced stem, seat post and handlebars with the ones I had.

pics:(soon I'll make some time to make better ones)

I think it weighs around 7.2kg/16lbs with my fulcrum wheelset, I should get myself a proper scale, couldn't weigh the parts separatly because the bike was already put together (I told the seller in the shop I could do it myself, but he said they only sell the bikes as a whole, so I had to wait for an hour...)

any (budget friendly) suggestions to how to shave off some weight? non budget friendly idea's are welcome to, but then they should be sponsored

greetsR.

Last edited by weptunus on Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I can swim, but that says it all I am planning om doing some winter duathlons this winter (ruiming - mtb - running). Never did 5k or 10k on a track, and only one 10k on the road, that was a race in preparation of last years 10 mile my time was 36'18". I wantend to da that race at 10 mile pace, turns out my 10 mile where faster...

It has been a while, I have been very busy last few weeks...But last friday I bought an unused SRAM force groupset for a nice price (€620) from a guy who bought it with a frame with a prepressed BB (not suited for SRAM).so saturday I started putting everything together.I used new parts and (for now) spare parts I had laying around.

some remarks:I know I have a lot of spacers (they will be removed once I'm comfy with my position).It's not a real weightweenie, but I do my best, with the budget I've got...I notice now, I should have taken off my saddle bag In all my enthusiasm I forgot to weigh parts seperatly, so I don't know the exact weight, anyone knows where I can buy an affordable but accurate scale?I did a few rides with this bike, and I must say, compared to the other one (my new one is lighter with wheels, than the Canyon without wheels) this one is like comparing Scarlett Johansson to Paris Hilton (we're comparing beauty and breast size with the last one, not weight! )I expected a diference, but not this huge. I will keep using my old bike for training, espacially in these winter days, so I will enjoy this feeling every time I hop on my new bike! I don't want to get used to the feeling (for now).

comments? shoot!

ps.I signed a contract at a local U23 team yesterday, I found myself a coach, so I'm looking forward to the new season already!

seemed the helium was to big for me, my legs are fairly long compared to my total length, so I need a smaller frameset.After some research and measuring (nearly) all parts of my body, a focus (56) seemed to be a bike made for me.I found a guy who also bought the wrong size frame for himself so he was selling his focus which I bought.So pics:

if the race terrain is a little more hilly I also have a fulcrum racing light wheelset if the race is on cobbles, very rough terrain or in very bad weather I have a handmade set with ultegra hubs mavic op pro rims and a million spokes

unfortunately, last week a horse gone crazy bumped into me, I dive-rolled away from it as fast as possible and escaped unharmed, my bike on the other hand kinda got right beneath its hooves, and looks like this:

the rear wheel (not on this picture) has half of the spokes snapped...I was lucky the bike wasn't my head...Now I'm looking for a new bike, it's probably going to be a focus again.Insurance will pay for it, but those things, unfortunately, take a while

Ouch. Good that it was the bike rather than your head or legs. It just confirmed my suspicion that horses are bad news. I am consistently surprised that they are allowed on the road given that they seem to be out of control around 5% of the time.

Anyway, a new focus would be a nice choice. They have been winning all of the bike tests I've been looking at recently, so I'm sure you'll be happy with another one.

yeah, I was pretty happy with the other focus, it's fairly cheap compared to competitor's frames, according to a lot of reviews I've read lately, it's also better then competitor's framesets, and if I would have a bike molded for me (like a lot of pro's), the geometry would be exactly the one of a focus frameset so I don't see any reason why I should taken another bike

I went by a shop (with a nice discount) last week for a new focus. the discount was on the 2012 focus izalco 3.0 (matte black izalco with force). they didn't have this bike in stock but they gave me the 2013 model with the same discount Now I have 0 money, hopefully insurances will hurry a bit (who am I kidding).I replaced stem, seat post and handlebars with the ones I had.

pics:(soon I'll make some time to make better ones)

I think it weighs around 7.2kg/16lbs with my fulcrum wheelset, I should get myself a proper scale, couldn't weigh the parts separatly because the bike was already put together (I told the seller in the shop I could do it myself, but he said they only sell the bikes as a whole, so I had to wait for an hour...)

any (budget friendly) suggestions to how to shave off some weight? non budget friendly idea's are welcome to, but then they should be sponsored

I haven't ridden that many bikes so I can't compare to much but compared to the other focus (it was almost 2.5 years old) this one is definitely stiffer.compared to the primorosso, when putting all your power in that one, it just felt really soft on my new one you really feel the power going straight into the road.The only thing I want different on this bike is the handlebar, I want it lower I'm looking for a stem with a bigger angle...

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